I am looking at buying my first set of planes and the box game. But before I do I was wondering if you could help me?

I am looking at the Spad XIII and I see one for Italy, france, and United states. What is the diff in the planes? Do they have diff cards, damage, guns or just colors and name?

Same question for the Albatros, Fokker and sopwith. I have read that those 4 would be a nice first choice but not sure which ones. I would like to get a mix of plane types to help me get a feel for the game.

Thanks

Warhawk said:

Most of the time, all units of a given type have the same movement cards -- that is, all SPAD XIIIs use the same maneuver deck, all Fokker Dr.Is use the same deck, etc. The notable exception so far is in the _Immelmann_ expansion -- the infamous triple-gun Eindecker uses a different maneuver deck from the single- and dual-mount Es.

Which leads to the other point: While most units of a type have the same maneuver deck, they *don't* all have the same firepower! For ex.: Some Hanriot HD.1s use the B damage deck, while other use the A deck. So when you're selecting your units, pay attention to the firepower stat!

I don't think anyone's yet put together a comprehensive list of which specific unit has which specific maneuver and firepower values, so short of digging out my copies and silly-walking through every card, I can't tell you which units have which values. I think if you go to BoardGameGeek, they have pictures of the minis taken at close-enough range to make the values legible.

The De Havilland D.H.4s from series 2 all have different rates of firepower. From the top of my head, the three minis go B/B, B/A, A/A. My friend has the last version, which I think is the American one, and it eats attacking fighters if you arn't careful.

Also the german two seaters from series 2 have some slight variations in their arcs. One of the planes, I think it is Richthofen's, has no forward firepower at all.

Banichi said:

The SO and the Me recently ran a couple of two-seater duels. The first one had the B/B DH4 up against a two-gun Roland; the Roland whacked the DH4 while losing 3/5 of its hits and taking an Engine critical. The second had the 2-gun Roland facing the A/A DH4; the results were reversed from the previous event (it didn't help that the DH4 managed to place itself in the narrow blind spot between the Roland's firing arcs *FOUR TIMES* during the game! ).

The A/A DH4 looks dangerous, but unless the attacker is foolish enough to give it two targets per turn instead of one, it can be easily overwhelmed. The Roland is the real danger -- if playing with Cards instead of Minis, it's possible for the Roland to have *both* guns available for *one* target.

Banichi said:

You're correct -- Richthofen's Roland is the one with the single gun. (Does anyone know of a reference for this? I haven't been able to locate one.)